705. When the circumstances of life challenge us
with difficult choices, we become more aware of the need to form a right
conscience. In complex modern conditions, with new sensitivities (e.g.,
solidarity, social justice, peace), new demands and hopes (equal rights,
liberation movements, feminism), moral judgments are more difficult and less
certain. In such cases, where there are often legitimate differences among
Catholics, we must be careful not to identify our opinion with the authority of
the Church (GS 43). Rather, our conscience therefore needs to be both
enlightened and informed (cf. CCC 1783-85).
706. Levels
of Conscience. We realize that “the education of
conscience is a lifelong task. From the earliest years, it awakens the child to
the knowledge and practice of the interior law recognized by conscience” (CCC
1784).
Due weight being given to the advances in
psychological, pedagogical and intellectual sciences. Children and young people
should be helped to develop harmoniously their physical, moral and intellectual
qualities. They should be trained to acquire gradually a more perfect sense of
responsibility. . . . Children and young people have the right to be stimulated
to make sound moral judgments based on a well-formed conscience and to put them
into practice with a sense of personal commitment (GE 1).
707. Forming a Christian Conscience. But to form the conscience
of a disciple of Christ, the key is obviously Christ and
his Spirit, experienced within Christ’s community, the
Church. The formative process takes place in faith and through prayer, by
attending to the Word of God and the teachings of the Church, and by
responsiveness to the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Critical reflection on the
events and experiences of our life helps us
in forming moral judgements. It is in living out the faith that we form
our Christian consciences. Two types of formative factors, are stressed: 1) “heart” factors such as
reading and reflecting on Jesus’ teaching and actions, and our affective
prayer and sacramental life wherein we
encounter the Risen Christ; and 2) “mind” factors __ attending
“to the sacred and certain doctrine of the Church, whose duty is to
authoritatively teach that Truth which is Christ himself, and also to declare
and confirm those principles of the moral order which have their origin in
human nature itself” (DH 14).
708. Types of Conscience. St. Paul distinguishes
good people from the bad, according to their faith and good
or bad consciences. He admonishes Timothy: “Hold fast to faith
and a good conscience. Some, by rejecting the guidance of conscience,
have made shipwreck of their faith” (1 Tim 1:19). He warns against “the
hypocrisy of liars with branded consciences” (1 Tim 4:2), and
“those defiled unbelievers . . . [whose] minds and consciences are tainted”
(Ti 1:15). This manifests the critical importance of conscience for
becoming an authentic person and disciple of Jesus Christ.
709. But even within sincere believers,
conscience at times can be erroneous __ we mistakenly
judge something that is really evil to be good, or something good to be evil.
“Conscience frequently errs from invincible ignorance without losing its
dignity” (GS 16; cf. CCC 1791-93). Forming a Christian conscience,
therefore, includes correcting any errors in conscience by instruction in the
relevant moral values and precepts which provide a correct vision of Christ’s
moral witness. “The more a correct conscience prevails, the more do persons and
groups turn aside from blind choice and try to be guided by the objective
standards of moral conduct” (GS 16).
710. At other times we experience feelings of guilt
__ when we are bothered by having acted against some norm or
rule. These guilt feelings can be a result of an authentic Christian conscience
__ when we have acted contrary to the Gospel. But the guilt
feelings could also be the result merely of shame over breaking some social or
cultural “taboo.” Formation of an authentic Christian conscience here means
clarifying the difference between true moral guilt (a true “guilty
conscience”) and psychological guilty feelings which do not necessarily involve
any moral fault. “The [genuine] sense of sin disappears when it becomes
identified with morbid feelings of guilt or with the simple breaking of rules
or precepts of the law” (RP 18).
711. Work of Conscience.
Chapter 15 takes up moral norms which our consciences use in discerning good
from evil. Here we wish to treat only of what makes our acts good or evil. What
does conscience have to decide on?
Traditionally
three dimensions of every moral act have been highlighted: 1) the act
chosen, 2) the intention, and 3) the circumstances
(cf. CCC 1750-56). The three are dimensions of the one moral
act; hence they must always be considered together to make an
adequate moral judgment. For to focus only on the “act chosen” would forget the
personal agent and the context. To stress only the “intention” neglects the
objective nature of the moral act: a good intended end does not justify using
means that are evil. Finally, considering only the circumstances would be to
close one’s eyes to the objective nature of the act chosen, and all moral
norms.
INTEGRATION
712. The doctrines grounding the
intrinsic dignity of every human person, and thus of the Christian’s whole
moral life, were sketched above (cf. # 684-91). We Filipinos naturally
think of God as Creator, and in some way as
the final destiny of all. Yet for many of us, both truths
seem very “far away” from the hustle and bustle of everyday moral activity. A
more direct and personal experience and motivation is needed. For this,
something like Paul’s personal experience of the Risen Christ in his moral life
is needed: “I speak the truth in Christ: I do not lie. My conscience bears me
witness in the Holy Spirit” (Rom 9:1). If the truths of the Creed are
allowed to remain abstract and impersonal, they will prove powerless to
motivate the constant personal effort needed to follow Christ faithfully as an
authentic disciple — one who has gradually learned how to “love in deed and in
truth, and not merely talk about it” (1 Jn 3:18).
713. This essential need for motivation brings
out the intrinsic place of prayer and sacramental
worship for Christian moral life. Knowing what is good and
evil is not the same as doing good and avoiding evil. Again Paul is our
example: he clearly showed that the Law was incapable of giving the power to be
faithful to it. Only Christ through his Spirit can free us from sin and death,
for true life. Hence without a personal relationship to Christ our Lord —
begun, nourished, developed, and sustained through prayer and
sacrament — we have no power to live as “children of God.”
714. This chapter has presented the basic
dimensions of the follower of Christ in the light of reason and of Faith. To
live as a disciple of Christ is to respond to God as:
a) a human person: a
conscious, historical, unique, relational embodied spirit with innate dignity __
created, redeemed, graced now for eternal life hereafter;
b) a free self, called
from all enslavements to an authentic Christian vision and
character, responsible in pursuing true good, as discerned by
c) a Christian conscience,
formed by directing one’s freedom to the person and message of Jesus Christ,
the center of the Christian’s self-becoming and identity.
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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
715. What
is “moral life” for the Christian?
Christian
moral life is the following of Christ:
• in all our daily free actions,
values and attitudes,
• empowered by Christ’s liberating and transforming presence,
• through the grace of his Spirit,
• within the Christian community.
It
is simply responding to the Gospel call to become loving persons, in the
fullness of life-with-others-in-community before God, in imitation of Jesus
Christ.
716. What
problems does “moral life” commonly raise?
We
all experience numerous pressures and temptations both from inside ourselves
and from without, against exercising our freedom responsibly. Strangely enough,
we find it difficult to consistently “do good and avoid evil.”
717. How
does Christian Faith help us understand this situation?
Scripture
and Church teaching help us recognize this situation as the universal human
condition resulting from the “Fall” at the origins of our race.
Hence
our personal moral problems have a foundation that goes deeper than anything we
can handle by ourselves, without the redeeming power of Christ.
718. What
is the key to Christian moral life?
The
key to Christian moral life is our dignity as human persons, created by God,
redeemed by Christ, sanctified by the Spirit, and destined for eternal life
with God.
719. How
do we experience ourselves as persons?
We
experience ourselves as embodied spirits, conscious of our historical
process of growing up and developing, in constant relation with others
with whom we are fundamentally equal, yet unique in ourselves.
720. What
is authentic human freedom?
Authentic
human freedom is a shared capacity with others in the community for choosing
__ not anything at all __ but what is
the good, in order to become our true selves.
It
involves both:
• freedom from whatever opposes our true self-becoming with others in community, and
• freedom for growing as full persons before God and our fellow human persons, in
authentic love.
721. How
is human freedom experienced?
We
experience freedom most naturally in our free choices to act or not to act, to
do or not to do something. We accept responsibility for these acts.
Beside our individual free acts
there is the freedom of our very self formed gradually by our free acts.
Often called “fundamental freedom” or option, it is not primarily a
psychological term, but rather refers to our “moral being” as a human person.
722. What
is meant by “freedom of the children of God?”
It
means the freedom we share by the power of Christ’s Spirit within us, that
liberates us from the enslavement of sin, the law, and death, for
a life of loving service of our fellowmen.
This
does not mean that
• we have no sin, no laws to obey,
and we will never die;
but
that the grace of God offers us the real possibility of:
• breaking out and overcoming the
slavery of sin,
• living in true freedom as guided
by law, and
• transcending our physical death
by sharing in Christ’s eternal life.
723. What
is Conscience?
Conscience
is the proximate norm of personal morality, our ultimate subjective norm for
discerning moral good and evil, with the feeling of being bound to follow its
directive.
It
is the inner voice:
• summoning us to love the good and avoid evil,
by
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